let's throw out the emotional garbage...

i want us to spend some time at this scripture address. philippians 3.13-14 (niv), i do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. but one thing i do, forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, i press on toward the goal to win the prize for which GOD has called me heavenward in CHRIST JESUS.

paul here is pointing out a fact: he says i let go of the past and strain toward the future and he's making a point that we need to learn in relationships – fact: i cannot relate to the present if i'm still reacting to the past. we bring so many unresolved problems into our current relationships.

a lady looking back on her wedding day said, "when i walked down that aisle in that wedding gown i had no idea that i was carrying with me all kinds of emotional garbage into this relationship. i had to let go of that garbage before this relationship could really get a solid foundation."

we carry three types of emotional baggage...

1) we rehearse our resentments. we go over and over our bitterness, the people we're angry against, and the people that have hurt us.

2) we remember our regrets, the things we've felt guilty about, the things that we regret ("if only...") and remember those things.

and when we rehearse our resentments and remember our regrets...

3) we reinforce our remorse. and we feel down.

when you carry that emotional garbage of rehearsing resentments, remembering regrets, reinforcing our remorse it tends to cause us to react to relationships, rather than enjoying them.

just some thoughts to get us started here on the front porch...